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The Proposed 



Calvinistic College 



AT 



GRAND RAPIDS 



BY 



B. KUIPER A B. 



\. SEN'ENSMA 



PROPOSED CALVINISTIC COLLEGE 

A I 

GRAND RAPIbS. 



The Proposed 



Calvinistic College 



AT 



GRAND RAPIDS 



BY 
B. KUIPER, A. B. 

I»«TBl\TOR IN HISTORY I.N THK ('UK. I KUL lOBOOIa 



B. BEVENSMA, 

2^7 SO. BAST 8T., ORAVD RAPID9, MICH. 








Rece.veo 




1903 






bu-aX; }P 


•/7ri 


CH.ASS *- 


XXc, No 


t 2./ 


7 7 


COPY 



COPYRIGHT, 1903, 
BY 

B. Kuiper. 



-•1// Rights Reserved. 




^6 Hi 



*On* Founder Publ. Co. Print. Grand Rapid,, Mich. 



£atl?cv 

WD CHAMPION 
< HRISTIAN EDUCATION 

■ 

WTTB Htm 



Much has been said and written of late, and probably still mare 
will be said and written in the near future, about our establishing 
a College under Calvinistic colors. In nearly every case, however, 
the language used was Dutch. But a constantly growing number 
among us can no longer be reached through that medium. The Ban- 
ner of Truth unfortunately enjoys but a limited circulation. Hence 
this attempt to reach the English-reading class among our people. . 

B. K. 

Grand Rapids, Mich. 
May 30, 1903. 



BT is high time for us, members of the Christian Reformed 
Church of America, no longer to drift along thoughtlessly 
with the current, but to become fully conscious of the position 
we ought to occupy in America. 

'"Know thyself, can be demanded justly not only of the in- 
dividual but of a people as well, when the stage of infancy has 
been passed. We are no more in that stage, and there should be 
searchings of heart among us. The time for introspection has 
come upon us. We should ask ourselves certain questions. 

What are we here for in this country? 

Are we here simply to eat and to drink and to enjoy the fat 
of this land of plenty and abundance? 

Are we here to expend all our energies of body and soul in 
the mad struggle for our share of the millions of American wealth? 

Are we here to become great and conquer for ourselves places 
of honor and fame in American society? 

Or are we here to do a work, to perform a task, to carry out 
a mission? 

Perhaps we shall be able to see what we are here for when we 
recall how we came here. 



THE IMMIGRATION 

BT was on the 2nd of October, 1846, that a sailing 
port of Rotterdam with destination for New Yc 
of the ship is in doubt but it might fitly be christen 
flower of the 19th Century", for on board that shij 
Eaalte with a compan}^ of Dutch emigrants, who 
acter and in the circumstances under which they le: 
land, bore a striking resemblance to the Pilgrims of 
In the beginning of the last century Holland r 
away from the faith of the fathers. The spirit ha< 
formed Church in the Netherlands and nothing but 
was left. In 1816 its organization was also radi 
whereby it became a State-church. Howeyer, tl 



11 

the divine character of the Bible undermined. I 
withdraw themselves almost entirely from public 
in each other's houses where they read sermons ai 
cal works of old orthodox writers. Not only '< 
however, also among the ministers there were a 
faithful to the old standards. In 1834 Rev. de C< 
village in the province of Groningen, came into c 
governing bodies of the church because of his outsp 
Soon other ministers in various parts of the com 
volved in similar conflicts. 

Then something happened which will forevt 
blot in the annals of Holland. The country that 
such a heroic war for liberty of conscience ag 
tyranny of Spain now began to persecute its own i 
ers for the sake of religion. The ministers v, 
against the unscriptural organization of the State- 
with the people who followed them, were heavily 
into prison. Rude soldiers, who well understood 
annoy and harrass in every conceivable way, and 
it out, were quartered in their houses. The relig: 
the dissenters were broken up by mob violence, 
the pastors were more than once in actual clanger 



12 

But although political persecution had come to 
members of the Separatist churches still remained und 
ban. Public feeling toward them continued to be 
name of Separatist was a stigma. The question, anxi< 
one minister to another, "When will the time come tli 
more without annoyance can walk along the streets?' 
izes the condition of affairs. The Separatists founc 
strangers in their own land. In addition to religious 
economical distress, felt most keenly by the poorer claf 
nearly all the Separatists belonged, made life hard 
Holland. In other countries on the continent also the 
erty, and they were convulsed by the throes of the n 
'30 and of the coming one of '48. In Ireland the pot; 
failed for several seasons. Then came the report of pi 
land of liberty across the seas. Europe was seized witl 
emigration-epidemic, and also Holland did not escape 
ion. Providentially, in a particular sense of the wort 
leading ministers of the Separatists, Dr. Van Raalte, 
entertain plans of emigration. 

Dr. Van Raalte had been bred at the world-famou 
of Leyden. He had been among those who bore the 1 
attack against the Separatist movement, and had had! 



13 
South Africa, had many attractions for men of I 
both these fields had to be given up, and North 4 
cided upon. Meetings were held in various citie 
der the leadership of Van Raalte a company 
Rotterdam, and arrived in New York on the 17t! 
1846. The descendants of the Dutch settlers of IS 
had been informed of their coining, and by them 
ers, exhausted by a stormy voyage of one month ; 
were welcomed and hospitably entertained. Froi 
company went to Albany, and thence by eanal-lx 
in Detroit and St. Clair they found a resting plac 
Van Raalte' s plan was to push on to Wisconsin, 1 
dent his attention was called to a hilly region alo: 
Lake Michigan, between the Grand and the K 
Next spring he led his company to the shores of 
there laid the foundation of his colony at the pr 
city of Holland. 



When the small band of Dutch immigrants 
what was to be their new home, Michigan had b< 



14 

banks of Black Lake and River, and stretching along the shores of 
Lake Michigan, and far inland, still stood "the forest primeval.'' 
Dr. Van Raalte and his company, with those who came in the 
years immediately following, were among the pioneers of the State of 
Michigan. 

These Dutch pioneers, men and women just come out of an 
old civilization into the wilds of the New World, had to do the 
work of pioneers, and suffer the privations which are always the 
lot of pioneers. During the first years they were necessarily al- 
most entirely absorbed in the struggle for existence. They were 
nearly all poor people, and their first care was to provide the mat- 
erial necessities of life. The great work was to clear the land of 
its wood in order that crops might be raised. The task was especial- 
ly difficult for men who came from a land where that phase in the 
history of civilization had been passed through centuries ago. In- 
structed however by kind Americans in the war against the giants 
of the forests, the new settler soon began to swing his ax with 
considerable deftness. But the sufferings were nevertheless great 
in the beginning. Rude huts of bark, but partially protecting 
from cold and rain, served as dwelling places. When the 
rays of the scorching American summer sun were caught in 
the small clearings, over which the sultry air hung still 
and motionless, as in a trap, the heat became unbearable. 
.Swamps and the virgin soil, stripped of its timber and plowed 
up for the first time, steamer! with poisonous vapors. Pro- 
visions were scarce, and could be procured only by weary journeys 
along Indian trails through the woods to Grand Haven, Kalama- 
zoo, or Grand Rapids. There were times when it was difficult to 
find a hut without its sick, and not less difficult to find enough 
healthy people to bury the dead. More than once the people were 



15 
on the point of losing heart and deserting the spot. The picture 
drawn by Dickens in Martin Chuzzlewit of the environment and 
experiences of youngMarfcm,and his ever jolly companion MarkTap- 
ley in Eden, with the loud colors toned down a little, will give a 
fair idea of the young Dutch settlement on the Black Lake. Many 
of the settlers, just as those two young Englishmen, and as many 
of the early Spanish and French explorers, had dreamed of finding 
back in America the lost garden of Eden. Their disappointment 
was great, and in the bitterness of their heart, as the children of Isra- 
el in the desert, they turned against their Moses with threats and 
reproaches. But the greatness of Van Raalte as leader never shone 
more brilliantly than in those days that tried men's souls. 
He rode from hut to hut, administered medicine, and spoke words 
of comfort and cheer by the bedside of the sick and the dying. 
When on the Sabbath, the men and women with their children 
had dragged their bodies weak and weary to the gathering place 
in the woods, his sermons aroused new strength, new hope, new 
enthusiasm, and on the care-worn faces and in the sunken eyes a 
new light kindled. One Sunday Dr. Van Raalte, early in the morn- 
ing, had been called to the bedside of a dying man. As he returned 
to the small congregation waiting for him. he mounted the stump 
and began with saying: "Brethren and sisters, the angels rejoice, 
for out of these woods a soul this morning ascended to heaven." 
Times were however when the courage and faith of the leader him- 
self came near the point uf succumbing. Preaching one time on 
the text, "Behold, the Judge standeth before the door,"in his prayer 
he cried out. "0 Lord, must we all die here!" and amidst the sobs 
of his hearers the voice of the preacher was stifled by tears. 



16 
It was in the most literal, aetual sense of the word a struggle 
for existence. But from the beginning, and in the thick of the strug- 
gle, when the people were almost entirely absorbed in laying the 
material foundation of the colony, Van Raalte never for a moment 
lost sight of the intellectual and spiritual needs of the people. Be- 
sides churches, he labored to erect schools, and insisted on the pub- 
lication of a paper. The struggle for existence was long and hard, but 
these Dutch settlers at last came out victorious, thanks to their 
dogged perseverance, wrought in them by their faith in almighty 
God. To-day the city of Holland, prosperous and growing at a 
rapid rate, stands as a monument to the heroic leadership of Dr. 
Van Raalte. Round about it lie the nourishing agricultural vil- 
lagi sof Graafschap, Zeeland,Vriesland, Drenthe, etc, etc., and the 
country, once covered by endless woods, is now clotted with farms 
possessed by the descendants of Van Raalte's followers. The sons 
and daughters of these early settlers have spread also to the 
neighboring cities of Grand Rapids, Grand Haven, Muskegon, 
Kalamazoo, Chicago, etc., where their number, swelled by the ar- 
rival of Dutch immigrants of later years, is a large element in the 
population. 

The year following Dr. Van Raalte's departure from the Neth- 
erlands, another company of emigrants, also Separatists from the 
State-ohurch, spurred on by similar motives, landed at Baltimore, 
and under the guidance of the Rev. H. P. Scholte, came for rest 
from religious and social troubles to the wide and fertile prairies 
of Iowa, and not inaptly called the place where they settled Pella. 
These colonists also experienced their share of hardships in their 
pioneer life, but naturally the struggle here did not bear such a 
desperate character as in Michigan. Here too the Dutch settler, 
with the immigrant that came later, showed himself well adapted 



17 
to American conditions and he has thrived and multiplied in the. 
"Western States. A not inconsiderable number of immigrants re- 
mained in the Eastern States, so that to-day Dutch immigrants and. 
their descendants are living in perhaps all the Northern States of 
the Union, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 



To sum up the history of the immigration: 

1. The social and religious conditions were unfavorable in 
the Netherlands. 

2. The original settlers, and the great mass of the immigrants 
who came later, were members of the Separatist Churches in the 
Netherlands. 

3. The struggle for existence in the early days was hard and. 
all-absorbing. 

4. The great Leader never lost sight of the intellectual and 
spiritual needs of the people. 

•5. As a people we now enjoy material prosperity in our new 
country. 



^ ^ ^ & -p & 



OUR CALLING 

E have seen how we came here. 
How shall we now answer the question, What are we here for 
in these United States? 

Shall we live as John Chinaman does, and return after a few 
years with bags full of ' ' Amelican dollars' ' ? The Chinaman-type 
of immigrant has always been extremely rare among us. We have 
come to stay. 

Shall we try to remain Dutch however, and build up a 
miniature Holland in these regions? Such a project stands con- 
demned at the bar of history,and is foredoomed to failure. Let he 
who cannot possibly learn to feel himself at home here on this side 
of the Atlantic, return in peace to where he came from. 

First of all, we are here to recognize, every one of us, and 
openly, frankly, and unequivocally to accept the fact that we are 
now American citizens. 

Does that mean that we are to feel ashamed of our Dutch des- 
cent, and that we must try to forget it ourselves, and hide it from 
others? On the contrary, as American citizens we have every 
eason to feel proud of our Dutch blood. In English earsr 
"Dutch" for several reasons sounds as a term of ridicule. 
In the History of Samuel Titmarsh the English Comman- 



19 
der-in-Chief says to Mrs. Hoggarty, "Madam, if that is 
not my friend Mick Hoggarty, I'm a Dutchman!" But a true 
American will be the first to despise a fellow-citizen who is ashamed 
of his Dutch ancestry. There was a time when the erroneous view 
prevailed in this country that America was nothing but a trans- 
planted Engla nd. As our country is, however, growing farther 
away from the old colonial period, and beginning to live a more and 
more consciously independent, national life, and with the enormous 
progress in historical study in this country during the last decades, 
the truer and wider view is gaining credence that America, how- 
ever much modified, is a transplanted Europe. Every American 
citizen traces his ancestry back to some one of the countries of 
Europe. Now, among the nations of Europe, the Dutch may hold 
up their head with just pride. No nation can point to a more glori- 
ous record. I do not wish here to enter into a discussion of the 
mooted question whether America owes more to England or to 
Holland. Every student of history will admit that America ow( 
too much to Holland than that we, as American citizens of Dutc 
descent, can afford to forget the land of dykes and dunes. We aie 
to hold Holland in loving remembrance just as the American 
of English origin does England. 

What does it mean then to be an American citizen? To be an 
American is to recognize, however much we may love old Europe 
with all its historic traditions, that we are after all no longer Dutch, 
French, German, Swedish, or English, but a new nation, a nation 
different from all other nations, with a character and a mission 
all our own. 

But having thus become American citizens, are we here now 
simply to eat and drink and enjoy the fat of this land of plenty 



and abundance, or. . . .are we here for some higher purpose? 

Who will or can deny that there are great numbers of people 
among us who seem to have no higher ambition than to become 
great in the world, and conquer for themselves and their children 
places of honor and fame in American society? Who expend all 
their energies of bod} r and soul in the mad struggle for the millions 
of American wealth? 

It is easy enough to explain this condition of affairs. By all 
odds the great majority of our people left Holland because of pov- 
erty, or at least because of a decline in business, or because there 
seemed to be no prospects, for their children. We came with the 
avowed purpose to improve our social condition. That idea was 
uppermost in the minds of many. So, when they stepped on land 
in New York, their minds had already assumed a strongly material- 
istic bent. We have seen from the brief historical sketch given, 
the few remaining original settlers, now grey-haired men and women 
stooping toward the grave, remember from personal experience, how 
bitter the first struggle for mere existence was. That struggle, 
■which consisted in the felling of trees, and the clearing of land in 
order that crops might be raised, necessarily absorbed almost all 
the energies of the early settlers, and of their children as well as soon 
as they were only old enough. The people thought of almost noth- 
ing else but of how to make the colonial enterprise a material, a 
Jtaanrial success. In this way the materialistic bent of mind with 
which the immigrant set foot on American soil was hardened into a 
fixed habit of mind. 

Moreover we should not forget that it was not the Dutch col- 
onist of 1847 alone, who was actuated by motives and subjected t<> 
influences that well-nigh irresistably led all his thoughts in a 
materialistic direction. It is true the Pilgrims, the Puritans, the 



21 
Huguenots, the Scotch-Irish, the Quakers, and also the Catholics 
who owned the Calverts as their proprietary lords, fled across the 
ocean to America for the sake of freedom of religion. But the same 
is true to some extent of the followers of Van Raalte and Scholte. 
But every one ' "who does not read history with his "fantasies' but 
with his eyes" — in as far as it is given to man to do so — knows 
too, that neither with the colonists of the 17th, nor with the col- 
onists of the 19th century, the motive for leaving the old world and 
seeking the new was purely religious. Then as well as later men 
were attracted to America by the hope of social improvement. 
There can be no question that also then as well as later the social 
motive was with many the stronger of the two, sometimes the only 
one. And so it came about that in many sections of the country 
the tone of life was, from the beginning on, decidedly materialistic, 
In New England the religious element was at first the strongest., 
and for more than a century religion there remained the dominant 
force in life, but by the year 1S00 it had ceased to be such an ac- 
tive principle. The pioneers who about that time in great numbers 
began to cross the Alleghanies,and who pushed on into the western 
wilds till they had reached the shores of the Pacific, thus virtually 
achieving within half a century that magnificent conquest of a 
continent, made possible by the Louisiana Purchase, which is to 
be celebrated this year by the World's Fair at St. Louis, and a 
conquest which is forever to remain one of the grandest chapters 
in the history of the onward sweep of civilization, although thou- 
sands and thousands of them were earnest, religious men, were, 
however, not driven on upon their westward march by a religious 
motive. What impelled them to leave the Atlantic sea-board was 
nothing but the desire for social improvement. With them the 



22 
pioneers of '47, and consequently it is not to be wondered at that 
the materialistic spirit was correspondingly strong among them. 
But during the first decades of the 19th century this struggle for 
existence, in which really the whole nation was involved, and 
which unavoidably bred a spirit of materialism, was still counter- 
balanced by another struggle, carried on in the halls of Congress, 
in the press, in the pulpit, in country-stores, in the homes, and 
later on the fields of battle, for the freedom of the slave and the 
continuation of the Union, which called forth all the moral and 
spiritual energies of the nation. But when in 1865 this gigantic 
struggle ended, the re-action set in. For years and years the nati- 
onal mind had been agitated over principles of public morality and 
righteousness, during the last four years the nation had put forth 
almost super-human efforts, the tension of the soul had reached 
the very limit of human endurance, and now with peace came an 
utter collapse. The nation flung itself with redoubled energy up- 
on the work of repairing the frightful material losses caused by 
the war. With the spiritual forces of the people exhausted, 
there was now nothing left to preserve the equilibrium in the nati- 
onal life, so that there is small cause for wondering at the materi- 
alistic tone, which to-day is undeniably pronounced in American 
life. 

Remembering then the state of mind in which ©ur people 
came to this country, the struggle which we had to carry on here, 
and the prevailing tone of American life into the midst of which 
we were thrown, and above all not forgetting how worldly the 
heart of man is by nature, how he is earthly out of the earth, how 
he is fettered to the dust, all wonderment ceases when we see many 
of our people thinking of almost nothing but dollars, and having 
no higher ideal than to become rich. 



Now nothing is removed farther from our thoughts than to 
discourage a serious, an energetic, a conscientious application to 
the material things of life. What modern scientists, such as 
Huxley and Tyndall, teach when they tell us that the basis of life 
is physical, was expressed far back in times of antiquity by one of 
the friends of Job when he said, ' 'Our foundation is in the dust' ' . 
We are created body and soul, and the needs of the body are 
first. Paul says the spiritual was not first, but the natural. 
What the Colonists of the 17th and of the 19th century had to do 
first was to carry on the struggle for existence. Van Raalte per- 
fectly realized that the basis of life is physical. There was no- 
thing over-spiritual in him. He had an open eye for the natural 
side of human life. When stopping for the winterin Detroit, he 
had made a study of the natural resources of the State of Michi- 
gan, and in selecting the site for his colony, he had taken into the most 
careful consideration the probabilities it held out of material, financi- 
al success. To-day the struggle for existence, although it no longer 
has that desperate character of the days when it was a question of to 
be or not to be, still continues. The ground is cursed because of 
sin, and it brings forth thorns and thistles, and God' s decree 
stands immutable till the end of time that we are to eat bread in 
the sweat of our face and in sorrow all the days of our life. Paul, 
the great missionary of the Gospel, commanded the Christians at 
Thessalonica that if any did not work, neither should he eat. 
Scripture itself, therefore, teaches us that we are to work, work 
with all our might for our daily bread; and at the same time, once 
for all, destroys all Socialistic illusions by revealing the fact that 
this working for a livelihood will always bear the God-ordained 
bitter character of a struggle. 

But granting all that, still the question should be seriously 



24 

put: Can we live by bread alone? Have we a body only, or 
Lave we not also a soul? And admitted that the needs of the body 
are first, are not, however, the needs of the soul the highest? 

And so the question comes back to us with increased em- 
phasis: What are we here for in this country? Are we, having 
once become American citizens, here simply to earn as many dol- 
lars as possible, and perhaps become rich, or. . .should we have also 
other and wider objects in life, should we have some higher pur] >ose 
and nobler ideal? 

We have seen that to be an American citizen means that we 
are no longer Dutch. But this is merely negative. To be an 
American citizen means more. Being American citizens means 
that we may enjoy all the privileges, but also must bear allthe responsi- 
bilities of American citizenship. In one word, we are to participate 
to the full in American life. We are no longer to feel ourselves as 
something separate from America. We are not to think of America 
any more as something set over against us. We are to feel ourselves 
as an integral part of America. If somebody says America it means 
us. What concerns America concerns us. We are to feel ourselves 
at home in this country. The language of the country is henceforth 
to be our language. With our new country's history and institu- 
tions, we are to make ourselves thoroughly acquainted. We are to 
cast in our lot with the fortunes of this Republic. Her welfare is our 
"welfare, her woe is our woe. We are to declare from the depths 

of our soul: 

"Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee: 
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, 
Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, 
Are all with thee,— are all with thee!" 

The question: What are we here for? each one of us therefore 
should answer by saying: We are here not only to receivt but also 



to give; we are here not only to participate in the blessings of this 
country, but we are here also to. do something for this country, to 
the best of our ability. We have a work to do, a task to per- 
form. A MISSION TO FULFILL. 



Our new country can justly demand these things of us. We 
owe these duties to our new country. This Republic hospitably 
flung its doors wide open to us. We were allowed to settle where- 
ever we pleased. Cordially we were invited to share through hon- 
est labor in the wealth of this continent. Xo obstade was ever 
placed in our way to make progress, but instead many among us 
can testify to the willing kindness of the people among whom we 
settled to extend helping hands. We simply mention in passing 
the historic friendship of Judge Kellogg from Allegan for Dr. Van 
Raalte. 

Nor should we think lightly of this unbounded hospitality. 
Of late years the question has seriously been raised, and with good 
reason, whether it is not becoming necessary for this Republic, out 
of regard for its own proper interests, to set some limit to this hos- 
pitality. The stream of immigration has been constantly swelling- 
till last year the high water mark was readied. Heretofore the 
capacity of the American people to assimilate the foreign elements 
was believed to be next to infinite. In view of the enormous 
number, but more so because of the character of the recent immi- 
grants, a large percentage of whom came from the Southern coun- 
tries of Europe, grave doubt has been cast upon the infinity of 
America's assimilating power. To some who knocked at the Late. 
admission has been refused. Let us see to it that our country 
never has occasion to doubt whether she did wise to let us in. 



26 
Happily, and we say it with some degree of pride, the Dutch 
immigrant has shown himself a not entirely unworthy citizen of 
this great and good country. We point to the cities of Holland in 
Michigan and Pella in Iowa and the country round about, and ask 
what those regions were half a century ago and what they are now. 
Some of us took part in two of the great national Labors. As 
pioneers they helped in the work of reclaiming this continent. As 
soldiers they shed their blood to uphold the righteousness and the 
very existence of the nation. There are those among us who 
still bear the marks of that struggle, and others who bear the marks 
of the war with Spain in their bodies. 



But rather than glory in our past deeds let us. with an eye to 
the future, return to the question asked before: What are we 
here for? and to the answer given: We have a work to do, a 
task to perform, a mission to fulfill. 

What is that task, that work, that mission? 

We have seen that as American citizens, we are to participate 
to the full in the life of America. We are then to continue to 
enjoy the privileges of American citizenship, and even enter into 
an ever fuller and more complete enjoyment of those privileges. 

There is no reason why every one of us should not constantly 
try to make also material progress, and improve his social condi- 
tion. Some of us perhaps still feel themselves too much as strang- 
ers in our new country, and hold themselves back a little too 
much. We should not in the slightest degree abate in the struggle 
for existence. This American continent is large, and in many 
respects its resources still lie untouched. It is our duty to help in 
developing them. For when God had made man, he blessed him, 



27 
and this is the task which he assigned to the human race, "Be 
fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it. 7 ' 

Is the mad chase after money, the ruling passion to become 
rich, the materialistic spirit to be encouraged then? God forbid! 
We have the apostolic warning, ' 'But they that will become rich 
fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurt- 
ful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. ' ' Above 
all, the teachings of Jesus himself on this point sound one same 
note throughout, and that not an uncertain note. Call to mind 
this one word, ' 'Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, but 
lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. ' ' 

What then? How are we to reconcile these two? On the one 
hand Scripture tells us to do with all our might what our hand 
finds to do; everywhere laziness is condemned; and the word with 
which Gocl sends man forth upon his career is: Subdue the earth. 
On the other hand the Bible most emphatically forbids us to seek 
after riches. Here, as everywhere else in life, everything depends 
upon the right relations, the equilibrium of things. Sin appears 
not only as a positive evil, but also as a disturbing element, which, 
by wrenching things out of their true relations, and thus destroy- 
ing harmony, makes things in themselves right, wrong. "The 
world is out of joint", said Hamlet, and he laid his finger on the 
trouble. Christ came, yes to save souls, but far more than that, to 
restore the harmony of the universe. ' 'That in the dispensation 
of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in 
Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth". As 
followers of God as his dear children it is one of the great prob- 
lems of our existence to restore harmony in our lives, harmony 
between the soul and the body, between the natural and the spirit- 
ual. We shall never be able entirely to solve that problem in 



2S 

this dispensation. It will be solved for us, as a part of thi 
universal problem, in the dispensation of the fullness of times. But 
the nearer we come to solving it the better we wiL succeed in re- 
conciling the apparently contradictory demands of Scripture. We 

are to recognize and realize again the proper relation between the 
natural and the spiritual, the body and the soul. The natural is 
first, not the spiritual. The needs of the body are first, but those 
of the soul are the highest. We therefore still are to apply ourselves 
to the tilings of this life with all our might, even with redoubled 
energy, "not being slothful in business." But at the same time the 
piercing question of our Savior is never to be absent from our 
minds, "But what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole 
world, and lose his own soul?" and if we give heed to tins word we 
shall be saved from being drowned in the things of this life. We 
shall not have recourse then to dishonest practices in business for 
the sake of gain; we shall find time to think of other 
things besides of how to make money; last but not least, 
Ave shall make the lower subservient to the higher. By this 
last statement 1 mean this. We shad make money not to 
make money, not with the purpose of laying up treasures on earth 
and becoming rich; but first of ail because .air foundation is in the 
dust; in modern phrase, because the bas is physical, so 

that the possession of material things is the prerequisite of exis- 
tence itself ii] on thi- earth. And then secondly, to serve ourGod 
with our earthly p< ssessions in the things of his kingdom, in the 
spirit, that breathes through the prayer of Da I :h has been 

recorded for us in the last chapter of the first book of Chronicles. 



r e now have seen at least something of the task we have t«> 



29 
perform. We came here to improve our social condition, 
and from the start we threw ourselves energetically into the strug- 
gle for existence, so that to-day, although the struggle was hard, 
we enjoy a certain degree of prosperity. This struggle for exis- 
tence we are to continue, in the future that lies before ns, with in- 
creased vigor. For we owe it to our new country, which has so 
hospitably received us, to contribute further to the material wel- 
fare of the nation; and to God, who has graciously led us hither, 
to carry out his behest to subdue the earth. But, in performing 
this part of our task, we are to remember always that although the 
needs of the body are first, those of the soul are the highest. In 
other words, our labor in material things does belong to our task, 
but it is only a small part of the work we have to do. and it is the 
lowest. 

The work, the task, the mission we have to perform is much 
wider, embraces many other, and much higher things. We have 
seen how we are American citizens, and how in that capacity we are 
to enjoy all the privileges and bear all the responsibilities, of American 
citizenship. "We are to participate to the full in American life. Wil- 
fully we may not exclude ourselves from any of the spheres of life. 
Our citizenship therefore calls upon us to share in all the activities i if 
the nation: religious, political, and social. It is our sacred call- 
ing to play our part, however humble, in every one of the three 
great spheres of life: the Church, the State, and Society. 



■sp tp ■£} ^? sp 



THE DANGER 

S a matter of fact every one of us does already play his part 
in society for the simple reason that, as long as one lives in 
the midst of a community, one cannot help but doing so. It may also 
safely be said that, almost to a man, we take part in the affairs of 
state, at least to the extent of more or less keeping up with politics 
by the reading of one or more newspapers, attending political meet- 
ings, and casting our ballot on election-days. And finally we are 
all members of the church. 

But why then go to so much trouble, and with lengthy argu- 
ments call upon us to perform a work, which, after all has been 
said, you yourself must admit we are doing already! Is it not a 
case of much ado about nothing? Permit me to answer by asking 
a question in return. 

Is it not true that men are liable to fall into a certain routine 
of life, run into ruts, so that they do their work siiiiplj/ from /nihil, 
without thinking much? And if that is so, can it he said then that 
we have entirely escaped that evil? To me at any rate, it seems 
that there is abundant reason for calling upon our people 
with some degree of emphasis, to take their part in all the 
activities of the three great spheres of life, Church, State, and So- 
ciety. For it is not enough that we are doing so — as we have 



31 
seen, we can scarcely help doing it — but we should be aware of the 
fact that we are doing so, we should realize our duty to 
do so. Or, to express it in the words with which we started 
out. it is getting high time for us, members of the Christian Re- 
formed Church of America, to become fully conscious of the posi- 
tion we are called upon to occupy in America, and no longer to 
drift along with the current. 

For, and would to God that every soul among us could come 
to see it clearly, we are threatened by a gee at danger. 

I have made bold to outline our calling as I see it. We are 
not to keep ourselves apart, we are not to shut ourselves up within 
our own small circle, we are not to build up a miniature Holland: 
but as American citizens we are to throw ourselves whole-hearted- 
ly into the fulness of American life. But then we shall also come 
under the influences that make themselves felt in this country. 
Now American life is not simple, but extremely complex. The 
influences abroad are many aud varied. Currents of different 
strength and hue mingle and struggle together. When we cast 
ourselves into the midst of them, the strongest current is most like- 
ly to sweep us along. To-day the strongest current in American 
life is away from god and his word, the bible. And here lies 
the danger! 



Perhaps some will feel inclined to dispute the statement that 
the current away from God and his Word is to-day the strongest 
in our country. Xo one. having but the slightest acquaintance 
with the trend of modern thought, will deny that at least the cur- 
rent in that direction is very strong. 

How many of our statesmen to-day, when discus-: a ues- 



3a 

tions of politics in the halls of legislature, or from the stump; how 
many of our journalists in their editorials give the impression that, 
before they spoke or wrote, they had been earnestly meditating on 
the will of God in the matter, and had investigated whether the 
lamp of God's Word could throw any light on the problem? Who, 
amidst the social troubles, which agitate this country with grow- 
ing seriousness, has heard much of what the Bible says on the re- 
lation between capital and labor? In how many of our schools, 
higher and lower, is the fear of the Lord the beginning of know- 
ledge, and his Word the final authority? To what extent is the 
Word of God still a controlling power in all the relations of the 
every day life of the home and the individual? 

But, certainly, in the church the name of God is hallowed, 
and his Word holds unquestioned sway? For the church is the 
pillar and ground of truth. Alas, many churches have betrayed 
their sacred trust, and the Bible has been wounded in the house 
of its friends. They who are styled ministers of the Word, and 
thz doctors of Theology, are making themselves very busy, each 
one, in the name of Higher Criticism, scratching out some word 
or text or passage. The bolder among them do not scruple to 
tear out pages, and mutilate whole books. Thus the authority 
of the Bible as the Word of God is undermined, so that still to 
bsluve with all one's heart in the divine and inspired character 
of the Scriptures is fast acquiring the meaning of being antiquated 
and hopelessly behind the times. 0, most ineontestably, the pro- 
ph its and bards and sages of Israel have left us in the Old Tes- 
tament a wealth of Jewish literature, which compares quite favorably 
indeed with the Vedas and the Zendavesta and oilier sacred books 
of the Orient; in the gospels of the New Testament we have the 
words of Jesus, the great Teacher, and in the epistles most ad- 



33 
mirable relics of early Christian thought. But that that collection 
of books is the divine revelation of infallible truth, and to us, 
as -well as to the Hebrews of two thousand and more years ago, the 

absolute rule of life, no. that is altogether too naive: and the 

Greek of our day passes by, and shakes his head, for it is foolish- 
ness in his eyes. 

Xominally an evangelical Protestantism still prevails in the 
churches. The creeds and symbols still stand, at least on paper* 
But cases are by no means rare of people joining a certain church 
without believing in its creed, and without making a secret of that 
fact afterward. Those doctrines did very well in their time, but 
they have now outgrown them. They make light of the conse- 
quences, which may attend this swerving from the ancestral faith. Of 
course, they can not deny that certain grave evils afflict our na- 
tional life, but the suggestion whether perhaps it is not possible 
that there is some connection between these national evils, and our 
forsaking the truth of the Bible is received by them with a con- 
temptuous smile, or a cold shrug of the shoulders. They are op- 
timists. They will admit a growing religious indifference and in- 
creasing worldliness.but with strange futility they will forever con- 
tinue to assert in the same breath, with an assurance that nothing 
can shake, that the world never was better than it is to-day. More- 
over, if you will believe them, the world is going to keep on grow- 
ing better every day, the last times will be the best, and finally 
everything will turn out allright. t These people cry murder when 
the church, to defend its faith, takes men like Dr.Briggs and Mac- 
Giffin to task, but when anybody rises up to plead with some 

*An important exception has to be made here in regard to the Westminister Confes- 
sion of Faith, which has recently been revised, abbreviated, and somewhat changed by 
h e Presbyterian Church. 

-The Hon. G. J. Diekema : Lichtstralen, etc. 



34 

warmth the truth of the old creed, they find difficulty to contain 
themselves. They demand pulpit oratory and choir music, to 
satisfy the spiritual hunger of their soul? no, but to gratify their 
craving for aesthetic pleasure. For the creed of their church they 
feel nothing, a more elaborate ritual kindles all their latent enthu- 
siasm. 

Great numbers among the clergy believe even less of the fun- 
damentals of Christianity than the people. The anonymous author 
of "Dangerous Tendencies in American Life" in part characterizes 
them thus. Their private ideas are far in advance of what they 
teach. They impart the truth to their people as these, in their 
judgment are able to bear it. They believe themselves engaged 
in a very necessary and important work of leading the people on. 
In this respect, however, they are extremely circumspect, and 
hence their preaching lacks all strength and power. They teach 
as the scribes and Pharisees, and not with authority. The old, his- 
toric meaning of the doctrine is explained away by them. Their 
preaching has lost all edge, and does no longer prick the con- 
science of the sinner. Their preaching of course does not rest on 
any of the old creeds, but strange to say, it is also not based on 
any announced, well-defined, coherent system of philosophy. In 
their sermons, fragments of philosophic thought, derived from dif ■• 
ferent systems arrayed against each other in mortal combat, are 
found side by side. 

"Was Campbell Morgan far from hitting the mark when, in a 
meeting in this city held especially for ministers and theological 
students, he summed up the whole religious situation of America 
in two words: Uncertainty and Indifference? Uncertainty among 
the ministers, indifference among the people. Christianity has 
come to mean little more with many people than devotion to works 



35 

of charity. The philantropical activities are the boast of many 
churches, and at the same time the sign of the vitality of the Chris- 
tianity of their members. Worse than that, the churches of our 
country are rapidly being secularized. The boundary lines be- 
tween the Church, and the World are becoming ever more faint. 
The Church has become a social rather than a religious institution. 
The religion of many is nothing but a decorous icorldliaess. They 
have become lovers of pleasures more than of God. Mr. "World- 
ling, of Harris'* Allegory, has sung his siren song, and Miss Church- 
member has listened. And that in the face of the apost- 
le's exhortation, "Be not conformed to this world," This is 
the kind of respect in which not two or three, but the majority of 
churches hold the Bible. And if this is the kind of reverence the 
Church, to which the words of life have been entrusted, shows for 
the Bible, can we then still hide from ourselves the ominous fact that 
the current away from God and his Word in our country is very 
strons? 



The great danger that threatens us is, that this mighty cur- 
rent away from God and his Word will also sweep us along. 
Supposing we should shut ourselves up within the walls of our 
own small denomination, then we might escape this danger. But, 
as we have seen, it is our sacred calling to cast ourselves into the 
fulness of the surging sea of American life, and participate in all the 
national activities: religious, political, and social. Besides, as we 
have seen, as a matter of fact we are all of us, be it then more or 
less . 'iiseiously. playing our part in Church. State, and Society. 
It would be simplicity itself to fancy that we can avoid exposure 
to the time-spirit. The older people among us, because they do 



36 

not understand the language of this country, may not undergo the 
influence of the time-spirit to any great extent; the younger gen- 
eration through all the various avenues of personal contact, the 
hearing of lectures and sermons, and — what above all we should 
not forget — through the reading of books, magazines, and news- 
papers, have been in the past, are at present, and more and more 
in the future will be coming in touch with this time-spirit. The 
whole atmosphere is contaminated, and they cannot help but 
breath it. I add: Who can tell how many of our Christian Re- 
formed people have been swept away already? Ask every serious- 
minded minister among us who has his eyes open, and is watch- 
ing his flock as every faithful shepherd should do. Ask fathers 
and mothers among us. 



We came here to seek social improvement, and by far the 
greater number of us found it. But if our Church is in such great 
danger of suffering shipwreck on the sea of American life, and if 
we ourselves run such risk of being swept away by the current that 
turns aside from God and his Word, had Ave not better return to 
our old fatherland? For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain 
all the millions of American wealth, yea the whole world, and lose 
his own soul? 

Let us not for one single moment harbor the thought that this 
danger is peculiarly American, nor that our own Reformed Church 
and creed is in special danger. All churches and creeds are threat- 
ened, not only the Reformed and Presbyterian, but the Methodist, 
Lutheran, Baptist, and Catholic as well. It is not alone the doctrines 
of the total depravity of man, the sovereignty of God's grace, pre- 
destination, and similar characteristically Reformed dogmas, that 



37 

are being assailed; the very fundamentals of Christianity, held by 
all believers of whatever denomination, are called into question. 
Christianity itself is at stake. An un — , we may speak more stron- 
ly,an anti- christian tidal wave is sweeping not over America alone, 
it has wrought even more havoc in Europe. A spirit of falling 
away is at large among all Christian nations. 

The opposition to God and his Word can be traced back to 
the beginning of history. Adam and Eve began by disobeying the 
word of prohibition. The nations swerved farther and farther from 
the living God. Israel alone could be called the people of God. 
But read the prophets, and you will see what rebellion there was 
even among the covenant people. In the fulness of time Christ was 
born, and within about three centuries Christianity was made the 
state-religion of the Roman Empire, which included the then 
civilized world. The closing of the schools of philosophy at 
Athens, in 529, by the Emperor Justinian, signalized the victory of 
Christianity over pagan thought. From that time till well on in- 
to the modern period, it ruled in the realm of thought and action. 
The Renaissance however was a rejuvenation of paganism, and 
to it the beginnings of modern philosophy may be traced back. 
In France Descartes arose, in Holland Spinoza. During the 
18th century a deistic and rationalistic philosophy in England and 
Germany assumed a more and more hostile attitude toward Chris- 
tianity. The new, anti- christian philosophy bore fruit in the 
French Revolution. In Holland it was responsible for the dead 
condition, in which we found the church there at the beginning of 
the previous century, which in turn led to the movement of Separ- 
ation. 

This tremendous upheaval in Europe made its influence felt 
also on this side of the Atlantic, even in Revolutionarv and Colonial 



•3S 
times, but with ever growing strength during the 19th century. 
Theodore Parker gave the impetus to a group of young men 
among whom Ralph Waldo Emerson, the most famous of Ameri- 
ca's thinkers, whose first centenary has recently been celebrated, 
became the foremost in leading away from God and his Word ; 
Henry Ward Beecher, the renowned pulpit-orator, moved in the 
same direction; and Lyman Abbot is now among the foremost 
champions of modernism in his widely read weekly, the Outlook. 
To-day this anti-christian spirit manifests itself in the Church as 
worldliness; in the State as socialism and anarchism, to which 
our late president William MacKinley fell a victim; in Science as 
higher criticism, new theology, and Evolutionism. 

In the form of Evolutionism this anti-christian spirit has em- 
bodied itself in a system, which contains a complete life and world 
view, logically deduced from one fundamental principle. Upon 
the dc gma of Evolution not only the natural sciences have been 
built up, but the social and spiritual sciences of history, soci- 
ology, economy, law, philology, philosophy and theology as well. 
No system of philosophy that has appeared before this stands so 
diametrically opposed to Christianity at every turn as this system of 
Evolutionism. If the Christian declares his belief in God the 
Father, the Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. the Evolution- 
ist announces that the universe is the result of a process of natural 
development, through countless ages. If the Christian asserts 
that in creation God placed man, as his image-bearer, on an un- 
measurably high level from which he fell down, the Evolutionist 
teaches that there has been constant and uninterrupted climbing 
upward from the simplest amoeba form to ape, and from ape to 
man. When the Christian weeps over his sins, the Evolutionist 
speaks of all moral stains as remnants of our former barbarism. If, 



to present just one more contrast, the Christian bows himself hum- 
bly before a God -who made man after his image, the Evolutionist 
speaks of God as the sublimate, the precipitation of man's noblest 
thoughts. Reconciliation between Christianity and Evolutionism 
is therefore impossible. What one calls black the other calls white, 
and vice versa. 

When Darwin's "Origin of Species" and "Descent of Man" 
first appeared the whole Christian world was dazed. But the first 
shock soon was over. Then came Spencer, Huxley, John Fiske 
in this country, and a host of others to systematize and popularize 
Darwin's teachings, and in a truly astonishingly short time the new 
system had conquered the world. Veni, vidi, vici. To-day he, 
who finds within himself the courage to declare that he still be- 
lieves in the literal truth of Moses' account of creation, is almost 
universally looked down upon with a mingled feeling of pity and 
contempt. 



We can therefore not escape the danger of being swept along 
with the current away from God and his Word, by leaving Ameri- 
ca again. The anti-christian spirit is abroad in both the Old and 
New World. And while staying in America, we cannot avoid the 
danger by shutting ourselves up within the walls of our own small 
denomination; in the first place because, as we have seen, that is 
impossible; and in the second place because, for us as American 
citizens, that is impermissible. What is to be done? 



To be carried along by the current away from God and his 
Word, that is the great danger which to-day threatens every indi- 



40 
vidual Christian, all Christian churches, and all Christian nations. 
There is no greater danger imaginable. This danger includes all 
other possible dangers. For only they who fear God and obey his 
Word enjoy peace and happiness. And therefore, since this is the 
danger which threatens us, the question: what is to be done in 
order that we mav ward it off? is the question, the all-engross- 
ing question for us. 

We,as members of the Christian Reformed Church, ean give but 
one answer. The only way in which we can hope to escape the dan- 
ger of being swept along is by clinging to the rock of our Reformed 
Confession. Our only defense lies in Calvinism. 



We can now finally also see our calling a little more complete- 
ly. Not only as citizens of the State, but also as members of the 
Church, it is our calling to participate in all the activities of na- 
tional life. The great danger that threatens, not only in the Church, 
but in all spheres of life, is the movement away from God and his 
Word. To help in warding off that danger is therefore our high- 
est duty. As members of the Christian Reformed Church we find 
our bulwark in our Reformed Confession, in the principles of Cal- 
vinism. We are to show ourselves everywhere as Calvinistic 
Americans. 



V» >F v? # & * 



THE COLLEGE. 

§UR calling is glorious, but difficult. How shall we be able to 
fulfill it? The task imposed upon us imperatively demands 
a certain degree of intellectual development. We are in need of 
education. We cannot do without a complete school-system of our 
own. We must have Grammar-schools for primary, Academies for 
secondary, and a College for higher education. 



Of the grammar-school I shall but speak in passing. It is not 
difficult to see why our calling, as members of the Christian Re- 
formed Church, and as citizens of the United States, demands ed- 
ucation. It is evident at the first glance that we cannot partici- 
pate in all the activities of a civilized nation, without some degree 
of intellectual culture. The form of government in our Church is 
presbyterian, in our State republican. Now both the presbyterian 
form of government in the Church, and the republican in the State 
are based on an optimistic faith in the efficacy of particular and 
common grace; but both of them also loudly call for general popu- 
lar education. Neither a Reformed Church nor a republican State 
can possibly exist without a rather high standard of intelligence 



42 
among all its members and citizens. In the Church of Rome in which 
the clergy hold all the power, and in an absolute Monarchy where 
the king rules alone, ignorance of the masses is even desirable for 
the continuation of those institutions. But a presbyterian and re- 
publican form of government means that not one single class, but 
all the members, and all the citizens take active and responsible 
parts in the affairs of Church and State. All are eligible to office, 
all are called upon to vote for office-holders, and on certain occa- 
sions all are called upon to vote directly upon certain laws and 
regulations. Every one sees at once that such an organization of 
Church and State lays a task upon the shoulders of all the mem- 
bers and citizens, which cannot be performed unless all receive a 
certain amount of education. 

We, as Calvinistic Americans of Dutch descent, ought to see 
the necessity of popular education very clearly. Dutch, Ameri- 
can, and Calvinistic are three qualifications, each one of which 
alone ought to guarantee an intense and abiding interest in educa- 
tion. We come from a country where the two great stimuli to cul- 
ture, a presbyterian Church and a republican State, were active 
.for centuries. During the Middle Ages it was in the free cities of 
Europe that the Renaissance had its origin, and Learning revived. 
These free cities flourished pre-eminently in Italy and in the Neth- 
erlands. With the opening of Modern times, the Reformation in- 
troduced the presbyterian form of church government into Hol- 
land, and the war with Spain left it a free Republic. Nor did 
these two stimuli fail to operate here. At the time of the Peace 
of Westphalia in 1648, there was scarcely a child in the Nether- 
lands, that could not both read and write. In America these same 
two stimuli have had an opportunity to work even more un- 
trammeled. And it is Calvinism itself, which has given rise to 



43 
the presbyterian form of church, government, while at the same 
time no other factor in the modern period has been more power- 
ful in fostering republican freedom. 

The Reformed Churches have always realized the necessity of 
educating their members in order that they might be able to take 
active part in the life of the Church. Besides, the man of Re- 
formed confession does not, as the Roman Catholic, believe be- 
cause the Church believes so, but he is expected to be able to ren- 
der account of the faith that is in him. Here we find the reason 
why our Church insists inflexibly on the work of catechizing. 

The Puritans of New England from the beginning saw the 
necessity of popular education. They were so deeply convinced of 
this necessity of general intelligence in a Republic that, while 
standing on the edge of an unbroken continent, swarming with sav- 
ages, they founded a system of common schools. It was this convic- 
tion that inspired the famous educational clause in the Ordinance 
of 1787. Again it is this same conviction upon which our Public 
School system is based. And finally it was no other conviction 
than this that urged Van Raalte on in his efforts in behalf of edu- 
cation, while all around him was still a wilderness, and his fol- 
lowers were engaged in the struggle for existence. 

We have seen how hard that struggle was and how all-absorb- 
ing, so that it is no wonder that among the Dutch Immigrants of 
'47 education was at first somewhat neglected. Soon, however, 
their Dutch origin and Calvinistic instincts re-asserted themselves. 
The exhortations of Van Raalte and others were heard, and pre- 
sently it became the rule among us to give the children at least 
the primary education afforded by the grammar-school. 



44 
1. Why We Need A College 

An increasing number among us do not stop with the gram- 
mar-school. Now that the first desperate phase of the struggle 
for existence has been passed through, and many of us have at- 
tained to a certain degree of material prosperity, the way has been 
cleared for giving the children an even higher education. In every 
city where our people settled, the roll of the High School has 
many names, that indicate the Dutch descent of the pupils. More 
than that, not a few, often at the cost of great sacrifices from the 
side of the parents, have received a College training. Thus the 
necessity, but also the advantages of secondary and higher educa- 
tion are gradually dawning upon the minds of an ever increasing 
number among us. There are many who give their children a 
High School education, even if it is definitely understood that the 
life of those children is not to be devoted to any of the learned 
professions. There are even some among us, — as there are great 
numbers among our fellow American citizens — who hold College 
degrees, but now walk behind the plow, stand behind the counter, 
or sit behind the desk. Do these men make any direct applica- 
tion of their College studies to their present daily work. Most as- 
suredly, no. But if you ask them whether they regret their four 
years in College, they will answer that they were the best years 
of their lives. And although they cannot make any direct use of 
what they learned, it has made them more intelligent members of 
the Church and of Society, more useful citizens, more interesting 
companions; and their minds have been enriched with stores of 
knowledge, which will forever remain a source of pleasure to them 
amidst the drudgery of every day life. 

These people display a pure appreciation of culture. 
Such love of learning might be expected among a race, 



45 

descended from the defenders of Leyden. In 1568 the 
Prince of Orange unfurled the banner of liberty in the 
Netherlands . In a short but decisive campaign, however, Alva 
crushed out all opposition. For the next four years the country 
lay helpless under the heel of the tyrant. But then in 1572, the 
capture of the Brill, by the Beggars of the Sea, became the sign 
for renewed revolt. In another swift campaign Alva swept over 
the country and captured the cities of Zutphen, Narden, and Har- 
lem. With the fall of Harlem the doom of brave, little Holland 
appeared to be sealed. For a moment the repulse of the Span- 
iards from the walls of Alkmaar shed a new ray of hope. But the 
Spanish hosts turned southward and invested Leyden. The Prince 
made every effort to raise the siege, but without success. The 
dykes were cut to drown the Spaniards, but an east wind kept the 
water back. The citizens at every assault repelled the Spanish 
with bloody losses; even the women poured their boiling water, 
and hurled their burning wreaths of tar. But although the Span- 
iards were kept out, it was not possible to keep out famine. With 
every hope of relief cut off, a deep gloom settled over the whole 
country. The fall of Leyden seemed inevitable. But still the 
burghers held out. The grass in the streets, cooked leather, rats 
and mice, served for food. When the Spanish commander sent 
a message to urge surrender, he received the reply that the 
burghers would rather devour their left arm in order that they 
might still continue to defend the city with their right. At last 
the wind veered. A strong gale from the west impelled the water 
landward. The country was flooded, the Spanish had to break 
up the siege, and Leyden was saved. The citizens were offered a 
reward for their heroic defense. And what did these burghers 
choose in the midst of a struggle for life or death, a struggle which 



46 
and drained the city not only of blood, but also of treasure, — 
freedom from taxation for a number of years? No, but a Uni- 
versity. 

This is the origin of the University of Leyden, for years the most 
famous in Europe. It was not established at the decree of a king; it 
was not the creation of a millionaire; it was founded at the desire 
of the common people. These plain citizens of Leyden had a love 
for learning. With some of them, undoubtedly, as with some of 
us to-day, it was a love of learning as such. But with the ma- 
jority, as it is the case now, and will be the case at all times, 
this love of learning rooted in their clear perception of the fact 
that a free Church, and a free State, and a progressive Society re- 
quire more learning than an elementary education can furnish. 
We need not only grammar-schools, but we need no less High 
Schools or Academies, and Colleges. 



If we need a College, we need a High School or Academy; 
for the High School is the connecting link between the graded 
school and the College. The High School prepares for College. 
But there are still other reasons for the existence of the High 
School. In many of the vocations of life at the present time, although 
they can by no means be classed among the learned professions, a 
High School education is of great value. Especially in the larger 
business establishments of various sorts, a High School graduate will 
find himself preferred above others who, after having finished the 
eighth grade, took nothing but a short business course. This pre- 
ference shown to High School graduates is due to a general rise of 
the standard of education. With the passing of the years this 
rise will continue even at an increased rate, and consequently the 



47 
High School or Acaderr^ graduate will find himself in ever great- 
er demand. But besides we need teachers for the lower schools, 
and for preparing them we need the High and Normal School. 
This demand alone will make the High School forever necessary. 
So we see that irrespective of the College, our calling as members 
of Church, State, and Society, puts forth demands, by themselves 
sufficiently strong to insure the existence of the High School. 
Even if a boy or girl never expects to see the inside of a College, 
there may still be many reasons to send them to a High School. 
If, however, it is realized that we also need Colleges then that is 
one more reason for the existence of the High School or Academy. 



And of course every one, on a moment's reflection, sees clearly 
the necessity of having Colleges. The life of a nation absolutely 
demands institutions where an education is offered, which 
will enable those who have received it to take their places as lead- 
ers in the various fields. We have seen that we need High 
Schools. But if we need High Schools then we need also Colleges. 
For just as the High School must prepare teachers for the graded 
schools, so the College in turn is needed to prepare teachers for the 
High Schools. 

Furthermore, and that was originally the chief business 
of the College, it is the place for preparing young men to 
enter upon the study of Theology. In other words, it is the place 
where our future ministers of the Word may lay their literary 
foundation. When Colleges were established in the wilderness of 
New England, it was under the motto, "For Christ and the 
Church. ' ' Now among us too it is felt more and more strongly, 
that it should become the rule that our future ministers receive a 



48 
complete College training, before they enter the sacred domain of 
Theology. I say the rule, hinting that also this rule has its excep- 
tions. In certain cases a course of eleven years, eight preparatory, 
and three theological, might prove impracticable because of ad- 
vanced years or other circumstances. If the rule were then rigor- 
ously enforced, otherwise valuable material for the ministry might 
be lost. For such exceptional cases provision ought to be made. 
But leaving thus room for exceptions, there can be no doubt that 
the time has arrived, that a College training for ministers should 
become the rule. As we have seen, the general standard of edu- 
cation is constantly being raised. It would be fatal if our minis- 
ters should fall behind in this movement of progress. But if they 
are to keep abreast of the times also in the future, with constantly 
rising standards of knowledge; especially, if they are to be suffi- 
ciently heavily armed for the combat against the anti-christian 
time-spirit, which, as we saw, threatens us with such great danger; 
if they are to be able to repel the attacks made on the Word of 
God; if they are to prove equal to the task of guiding their flock 
in the midst of so much, that tends to carry away from God and 
his Word, then a complete College training for our ministers be- 
comes an absolute necessity. Besides, with nearly all other sci- 
ences taking such gigantic strides forward, it would be unpardon- 
able not to develop the science of Theology proportionally. But 
if we may hope for such a progress in Theology, we must have 
men, who have had the literary training necessary for scientific 
work in Theology. To-day there are everywhere in our country 
many men, with the most splendid natural gifts, and who make 
excellent pastors, but who will never be able to do scientific work 
in Theology, for the simple reason that they lack the required col- 
legiate training. They are handicapped for life. 



But we need not only High School teachers, and well-educa- 
ted ministers; we need well-educated politicians, let me rather 
say statesmen, as well. If there is any class of men to-day, who 
need a good and wide education, it is the men who are called upon 
to guide the affairs of city, state, or nation. There is a crying 
need of the scholar in politics.* Not that the man without a col- 
lege degree cannot do valuable work in public life. Not that a 
man with a College degree is sure to prove a good representative. 
The man with a College degree may be a mere doctrinaire, totally 
unfit for practical politics. He may be a scroundrel, of which 
species we have already a surplus. Men without a College degree will 
perhaps always remain the majority. But the problems of munici- 
pal government in our large cities, the problems of national poli- 
tics, the various problems involved in the labor question, cannot 
be dealt with successfully except by men who have a knowledge 
of political science, economy, sociology, and history, such as can 
be gained only by protracted study. It is possible of course for 
men of natural ability to gain a deep insight into these problems by 
private study; still it remains true that the most successful tack- 
ling of these complicated problems presupposes a wideness of 
view, a broadness of training such as can be derived only from 
a college education not merely in the sciences mentioned above, 
but in the humanities and philosophy as well. At any rate it is 
true that no one rightfully can lay claim to the title of statesman, 
who is not a man of broad and deep study. In the same breath we 
may mention the editors. If our politicians could richly profit 
by a College course, the same certainly holds true of them. 

But we need a College not only to educate our ministers, 
High School teachers, statesmen and editors; with the general 

*See Roosevelt: The College Graduate and Public Life. 



50 
rise of educational standards it is becoming desirable for our phy- 
sicians, and really necessary for our lawyers to receive a College 
training. 

Everybody will now see clearly how the life of the church, 
the state, and society demand learning higher than can be taught 
in either the grammar or the High School, so that we cannot do 
without the College. But if this higher learning is necessary then 
we need the College also for its own sake. Then the College must 
train the men who later are to become teachers in the College. 
Then we need the College, with its libraries, museums, and labo- 
ratories, as the conservatory of learning. We need the College as 
an intellectual center. The College is needed in order that the 
opportunity be provided for men to devote their whole lives, with- 
out worry, to the cause of learning, the advancement of science. 



2 Why we Need a College of oub Own. 

It may be taken for granted now perhaps that the need of a 
College in general is clear to everybody among us. But now, with- 
in recent years, there has been talk among us that we should es- 
tablish a College of our own. If we could for a moment imagine 
the impossible condition of our country being without a single 
College, then we would immediately feel the impulse to establish 
one. But in reality there are in these United States some 480 in- 
stitutions that bear the name of College or University. Within a 
radius of 150 miles, with Grand Rapids as a center, there are at 
least two large Universities and half a dozen good Colleges. Under 
these circumstances we may well pause and ponder whether it is 
really necessary for us, members of the Christian Reformed Church, 
to add another College to those already existing. 



51 
For if it is not really necessary we had better not do it. The 
establishing and maintaining of a College is not a small thing for 
people who have to work hard for their daily bread. A College 
costs treasures of money. Why should the parents among us not 
rather send their sons and daughters to Colleges already existing, 
and contribute their money to them so as to make them stronger 
and better? Do we really need a College of our own? 



We have seen that there is a strong current away from God 
and his Word among all Christian nations. An anti-christian spirit 
is pervading both Europe and America. "For Christ and the 
Church" , was the motto under which the Puritans established 
their first Colleges. But now it has come to pass that those very 
Colleges have become the storm-centers of the present anti-chris- 
tian movement; the hot-houses of ideas hostile to the Bible as the 
Word of God. Instead of helping to build up the Kingdom of 
Christ, they break down. Instead of supporting the churches that 
founded them, it is from them that the conceptions proceed, 
which undermine the creeds, and produce religious indifference. 
To the Colleges must be attributed directly, in large measure, the- 
low condition of the churches. Evolutionism holds sway in all 
the Colleges, and is more or less openly taught. Instead of for 
"Christ and the Church", they have become against. 

I have not said too much. Are there not fathers and moth- 
ers among us who have sent a son or daughter to College, and who 
now torment themselves with vain regrets? Their children have 
gained an in many respects excellent education, but lost their faith. 
Not we Christian Reformed alone view the College with apprehen- 
sion, in all the denominations all who hold fast to the old ortho- 



dox views, do the same thing. And they, who are recognized as 
leaders of modern thought, themselves admit that the present day 
College is in many ways a danger to Christianity. President 
William R. Harper of the University of Chicago, who certainly in 
every way may be regarded as well qualified to answer the ques- 
tion, "Is infidelity increasing in the Colleges?", which he pro- 
pounds in the first issue of the new religious weekly, Christendom, 

thus writes in part: "What is the situation to-day? Is it true that 
there has been a remarkable decrease in the actual teach- 
ings of Christian truth, while a large and growing emphasis 
has been placed upon the teaching of branches altogether 
devoid of religious character? Yes. Is it true that of the 
students who enter college very few indeed look forward to 
Christian service of any kind, the larger number having, as 
a matter of fact, only the slightest possible interest in relig- 
ious matters? Yes. Is it also true that many college men 
who might otherwise enter the ministry turn aside to teach- 
ing, or to business, or perhaps to some other line of work 
because of the influence of the purely technical instruction 
given in the colleges? Yes. Is it certainly a fact that many 
men and women who entered college as Christian workers 
in their home churches take little or no active part in church 
life after they have completed their cc liege work? Yes. 

' 'If, now, all this is true, or even half of it, one need 
not be surprised to find the feeling frequently expressed 
throughout the religious world that college education is 
tending to decrease Christian faith, and that institutions 
founded and conducted for distinctly Christian ends are, in 
fact, educating their studenst away from the church. In 
a word, that religious infidelity is increasing in our colleges. 
Is this conclusion to be accepted? I answer: Yes, and no." 

President Harper then goes on to show that the College stu- 
dent of to-day, when it comes down to essential things, has a 
far more sturdy belief in fundamentals of the christian religion 
than the student of fifty years ago. He says: 

"And our colleges may be less determined to support some 
peculiar view of God and theology, but they are producing 



53 

men and women who are not content to live in a universe 
in which there is no God. If education tends to lead col- 
lege students to adopt the shorter form of every creed, it is 
teaching them at the same time that religion is an elemen- 
tal fact in human life, and that no man can be a thorough- 
ly educated man who does not know the fear of the Lord. ' ' 

He holds that the outlook for Christianity is on the whole 
encouraging. But Dr. Harper then means by Christianity the 
modern, and not the old orthodox conception of it, based upon the 
Bible. This might be reasonably supposed from the fact, of which 
Dr. Harper never made a secret, that he is a leader in America in 
the field of Higher Criticism. But it appears also from a sentence 
in which he says that unless students are helped to see the true 
relation of the Biblical narratives to Christianity, it is almost an 
invariable rule that unless such students are helped to see the true 
relation of the Biblical narratives to Christianity; it is almost an in- 
variable rule that they pass through a period of great religious de- 
pression and uncertainty, which in some cases results in either 
religious indifference or a half-cynical contempt for the teachings 
of the church. The implication clearly is that a belief in the lit- 
eral truth of the Bible is not essential to Christianity. Xow if the 
outlook is encouraging for the modern conception of Christianity, 
it is discouraging for the old orthodox view of it. And since to 
our mind the modern conception of Christianity is not true Christi- 
anity at all, President Harper' s article shows he truth of the state- 
ment that many Colleges to-day are a danger to Christianity. 

Besides the many Colleges and Universities in which the teach- 
ing and atmosphere are decidedly anti-christian, there are many 
more Colleges which are still in name Christian, but in reality 
also overpowered by the time-spirit. These Colleges as a rule 
point with pride to their Christian character. But as a matter of 



54 

fact their Christianity consists in little more than in required cha- 
pel and church attendance, a class in Christian evidences and a Y. 
M. C. A. and a Y. W. C. A. All this is very excellent and no 
Christian College can do without these elements. But these fea- 
tures alone by no means make a College Christian. These things 
are merely surface features. A College is first and last an institu- 
tion of learning. If therefore a College is to be Christian it must 
be Christian as an institution of learning. Now it is precisely on 
this vital point that a vast number of these Colleges cannot stand 
the test. They accept not alone the well-established facts, but also 
the speculative conclusions of an unbelieving science, and then waste 
their time in weak and fruitless attempts to reconcile these conclu- 
sions with the teachings of Scripture. And Christianity is always 
the loser. When it is found out that a certain article of the creed, 
a truth of Scripture can in no way be made to harmonize with a 
dictum of science, that article or truth is finally given up as ''not es- 
sential. ' ' In this way exactly it comes about what Dr. Harper said, 
viz. that the student of to-day believes fewer things. These Col- 
leges point to the interest of their students in Y. M. C. A. work as 
an index to the Christian character of the institution. And no 
doubt many of the students are still Christians at heart, but with 
their heads they are not. These Colleges are even more dangerous 
than Colleges in which the teaching is known not to be Christian. 
The condition of these Colleges faithfully reflects the condition of 
the Churches, noted in a previous chapter. In large measure they 
are even responsible for the present condition of the Church. Be- 
fore the future ministers enter the Seminary they have learned to 
doubt the creed of their Church in the College. As a rule these 
doubts are not again removed during their theological course, and 
thus skepticism enters the Church. 



We have seen the necessity of Colleges. We have seen that 
many out of our midst go to College. We have realized that we 
are threatened by the danger of being swept along with the current 
away from God and his Word, and that this current has one of its 
most important sources in the College of to-day. We have per- 
ceived our highest calling to consist in helping to ward off that 
danger. Can there be any question then as to whether we need a 
College of our own? Perhaps there is still a lingering doubt in the 
minds of a great many of us. That last doubt must also be re- 
moved, even though it will cause surprise here and anger there. 
Great numbers of us still live in the peaceful assurance that Hope 
College is an institution to which they can safely send their chil- 
dren. That is not so. As members of a Reformed church we be- 
lieve that our only defense against the danger that threatens lies 
in Calvinism. Therefore we cannot be satisfied with anything less 
than a Calvinistic College. And Hope is not Calvinistic. In Hope 
too the doctrine of election is ignored, by some openly sneered at; 
and the evolutionary dogma of selection receives homage, at least 
in the natural sciences. Hyper-Calvinism is rebuked, but genu- 
ine Calvinism is not openly and fearlessly proclaimed. If any 
student leaves Hope with an enthusiasm for Calvinism, it is not in 
his Alma Mater that he received his inspiration. Calvinism is 
not held up to the students there as the one system which will 
prove able to stand firm as a rock in the midst of the current away 
from God and his Word. Surely, Hope is pervaved by Christian 
influences, but it is precisely that vague type of Christianity which 
we called more dangerous than open hostility. Hope, instead of 
planting itself squarely in every one of its departments upon the 
rock of the principles of Calvinism and the Reformed Confession, 
which, by virtue of denominational affiliation, is its as well as 
[LofC. 



56 
ours, is drifting away with the current. Hope College, with the 
denomination which supports it, in this respect stands on a par 
with so many other Colleges and denominations in our country. 

Hope College has done much good in the past, and we trust 
will continue to do so in the future. Not only its own denomina- 
tion is greatly indebted to it, we just as well. It has done much 
for the intellectual development of both groups of the Immigra- 
tion of '47. It is true of what we are reminded on every occa- 
sion, some of its alumni have been called to the highest positions 
among us. We shall always gladly recognize our obligation to 
Hope. But this does not in the least alter the fact that in it we 
do not find an institution for higher learning to which the parents 
among us can safely send their children, and can enable us to ful- 
fill our highest calling of warding off the greatest danger I say 
this with feelings of sincere regret. The rupture between the two 
groups of the Immigration of '47 should be a source of grief to 
every one of us. Sad indeed it is, that we cannot work together 
even in the matter of higher education. Joyous would be the day 
when, with the rupture healed, we could stand again shoulder to 
shoulder. For there is no sadder spectacle than to see the many 
fragments into which the Church of Christ is torn. In the face of 
the growing power of the enemy we need each other so much. 
And especially do we need each other in the field of higher edu- 
cation. For a College requires men and money. Re-union is 
not to be sought, however, by passing lightly over our differences. 
That can result only in new gains for a constantly more fading 
Christianity. Let the friends of Hope ask themselves what Dr. 
Van Raalte would say to-day of the institution, founded largely 
through his untiring efforts, and of all his projects cherished most 
dearly by him, if he could rise from the grave. Let them bring 



57 
the Reformed principles, for the inculcation and defense of which 
Hope was established, to honor again, and we shall hail the day. 
For the way will then be opened for re-union. 



In the meanwhile there is little prospect of such a change on 
the part of Hope in the immediate future, and no choice is left to 
us. We must establish a College of our own. College of our own 
does not mean a denominational College in the narrow sense of the 
word. A school has a broader basis than a denomination. But 
it means a College in which our own principles reign supreme, in 
which the Bible is recognized as the Word of God, and therefore 
as the highest authority also in the domain of science. A College 
of our own means accordingly a Calvinistic College. Without 
such a College we shall not be able to fulfill our glorious, but dif- 
ficult calling as Calvinistic Americans. To establish such a 
College parents owe to their children; we owe it to our Church and 
to our country; above all, we owe it to God. 



3. The Possibility of a College or our Own 

It is necessary to establish a College of our own, but is it also 
possible? To establish a College is no small thing. Let no one 
think lightly of it. A College means a campus, buildings, a li- 
brary, laboratories, students, and teachers, all of which costs large 
sums of money. For being incorporated as a College in the State 
of Michigan a sum of 100,000 dollars is required. But why not 
locate the College in another State where so high a sum is not 
required? Even if the law did not require that sum, the needs of 
the College would require it. An endowment, fund of 100,000 



dollars is by no means too large. For to-day no more than four 
or five per cent, can be counted on. As every one can estimate 
that would not bring in any way an extravagant sum for paying 
the running expenses year by year. 100,000 dollars would give 
us a nice start however. 

Will it be possible for us to raise such a sum? Most of us have 
attained to a certain degree of prosperity in this country, but only 
very few have any capital. The great majority have to work for 
their daily bread. Then there are so many needs already of 
Church and Theological School that must be provided for. And 
let it be said to the honor of our people that to all these things 
they have as a whole always contributed liberally. But if the 
question should be asked, "Have you felt that you gave, have you 
suffered on account of it, have you found it necessary to curtail your- 
self in your own personal expenses?' ' but few certainly would have 
to answer, yes. If we are only thoroughly convinced of the necessi- 
ty of a College, there can be no doubt but that we can raise the sum, 
if not in one, then in two or three years. Almost every family 
among us could contribute something for this purpose every 
year, over and above what they are giving already. Some per- 
haps not more than a few cents, but the majority certainly a few 
dollars, and a few even some hundreds or thousands. Then we 
should not forget that each year we shall be able to do more. 
Every year we increase in numbers for happily there is no 
fear of race suicide among us as yet. From year to year we shall 
also grow in financial strength. We should not forget that al- 
though an energetic application to the material things of life is the 
lowest part of our calling, it nevertheless is a part of it. It is not 
only the privilege, but also the duty of our people to make ma- 
terial progress in order that they may have more money to devote 



59 
to the Kingdom of God. If we use our money aright we may 
expect further blessings, but otherwise the apostle James admon- 
ishes us. • 'Ye ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss, that 
you may consume it upon your lusts. 17 In both these respects 
of increasing in numbers and in financial strength we are far 
ahead of our Reformed brethren in the Netherlands. A great in- 
crease in numbers and financial strength is not possible there, the 
country is already overpopulated. Our new country is capable of 
holding several additional millions. But in obeying the command 
to multiply we should not forget the command which follows im- 
mediately, viz. to replenish the earth. And in so doing, if in any 
way possible, we should move to new regions in colonies so that at 
once a congregation may be formed. Individual settlers or even 
two or three families are almost certain to be swallowed up, and 
are thus lost to our principles. 



It therefore seems to me very well possible to raise the sum. 
if all our people are only thoroughly convinced of the necessity of 
a Calvinistic College. Certainly, it is perfectly true that only 
comparatively few of us can profit directly by the College. The 
majority of us can do no more than give their children a primary 
education. But I trust there are not many so short-sighted among 
us as to think that only what concerns them directly is of interest 
to them. That would be so if each one of us lived separately, were 
not the part of a whole. The proposed College is a matter of inter- 
est to every one of us. whether he can send his children to the 
school or not. We remember how our calling as members of the 
Christian Reformed church and as citizens of the United States re- 
quires a primary education of all. But to supply the grammar- 



school with teachers we saw we need the Academy, and to furnish 
in turn the Academy with teachers we need the College. As mem- 
bers of the Church we are all interested in ministers with a com- 
plete College training. Our present ministers who, in their 
parsonages by private study, harder and more exhausting than many 
a layman can imagine, try to make up as much as possible, will 
be best able to tell their people of the advantages of a College edu- 
cation. Furthermore, are we not all interested in men who have 
received an education so that they can in the future give us guid- 
ance in our political life, and show us by the light of God' s Word, 
the way we have to go also in this field? Are we not in need of 
men who can guide our people in the midst of the labor agitations, 
with which they also come in contact? Think merely of the one 
question of Unions. Much is being done already by Wachter, 
Gereformeerde Amerikaan, and Vaandel; but the future will demand 
even more. Members of the Christian Reformed Church, if we 
have become more or less conscious of the position we ought to 
occupy in our new country, if we understand our calling, and if 
we appreciate the dangers that threaten us, can there still be any 
doubt that a Calvinistic College, where men can be trained who 
will be able to give us guidance in every sphere of life, not by 
their own wisdom, but by virtue of a higher wisdom which they 
have derived from the Word of God, is a matter of the most vital 
interest to every one among us? Without such an institution, our 
people, in the midst of the richest earthly blessings, are beset by 
the peril of drifting away with the current from the Church, the 
Bible, the Reformed principles for which our fathers suffered death 
on the scaffold and at the stake, fought against Spain, and again 
in the previous century suffered persecution before they came to 
this country. 



61 
There have been some muttering? among us, which should be 
answered in this connection, because they are so utterly false, and 
might do some harm to the cause of the proposed College. It has 
been said that this agitation for a College has been inspired not by 
a worthy ideal, but by the desire of securing for some of us better 
positions as teachers. "Es geht alles urn Brot". says one of the 
characters in Wilbrandfs Der Meister von Palmyra. Some among 
us seem to think the same thing. There are people who have no 
higher ideal themselves, and who now seem to find it difficult to 
understand that others can have. But do these people really con- 
sider us so innocent of this world that we do not realize that the 
teaching profession is not the best from a financial point of view? 
We know very well that it ■•pays" much better to go into busi- 
ness, or be a physician or lawyer. And besides we see full well 
that even if we wish to stick to teaching we cannot expect high 
salaries. if our proposed College becomes a reality. An expansion 
of the Academy, and an increase in teachers, because of the higher 
expenses, will always tend to keep the salaries down. 



Let us turn to the more pleasant side of the subject again. In 
the early years, because of the hard struggle for existence, our 
people could not do much for education. We have however 
performed the lower part of their task, the labor in material 
things, well: we have been blest, and now we are in condition 
seriously to take up the higher part of our task, the work in intel- 
lectual and spiritual things. We now enjoy a certain degree of 
material prosperity, and have the necessary money at our com- 
mand. The hope is furthermore well founded that from year to 
vear we shall be better able to contribute to highei purposes. 



62 
But there is no reason why we should also not receive asssist- 
ance from the outside. The proposed College should not be nar- 
rowed down to a denominational affair. A school has a broader 
basis than a denomination. What separates men in denomina- 
tions is very often points of Church-polity. And these are just the 
points that do not affect a school. Of course the differences be- 
tween a Catholic, an Arminian, and a Calvinist are too funda- 
mental than they should allow of co-operation in the same school. 
But there is no reason why we cannot work together with an or- 
thodox Presbyterian and a so-called Calvinistic Methodist. The 
Puritan type is fast dying out in our country, but there are still 
Calvinists outside our own denomination. There are still the seven 
thousand who have not bowed the knee before the Baals of our age. 
The only danger here is that we join hands with men who, when 
it comes down to the test, should prove not to be of us. This dan- 
ger can be avoided by flying our Calvinistic colors from the top of 
the mast, bright and unfaded. 



Of students there will be no lack. The standard of culture is 
rising every year amomg us. There will rise up among us con- 
stantly greater numbers of young men and young women too, who 
seek a higher education. Of course not everybody is expected 
to go to College. The majority receive gifts of God, which do not 
fit them for a life of study,but for other just as useful occupations. 
All honest occupations are honorable if, as our Catechism expresses 
it, we only perform our work as faithfully as the angels in heaven 
do their work. There are many parents among us how- 
ever with bright boys, but small means. For such it 
will cost sacrifices to send them to College. But in this country 



63 
of ours we have before us numerous examples of poor boys who, 
with the sacrificing assistance of their parents, managed to obtain 
a College education. Why can we not imitate those examples? 

4. The Location 

The question of where to locate the proposed College is one of 
extreme importance from every point of view, and worthy of the 
most careful consideration. At the first glance Grand Rapids 
would seem to be the place. But a strong element in the West is 
very desirous of having the College somewhere in Iowa. The rea- 
son is obvious. We all like to have the College as close to our 
doors as possible. Let it be understood from the outset that to the 
teachers it makes no difference as such. They can locate where 
the College is located. For them Iowa would even have certain at- 
tractions over Michigan. But it is a question of what is best for 
the College. And then it seems to me Grand Rapids should be 
preferred. Since we all like to have the school as near to us as 
may be, and since of course it is not possible to satisfy all in this 
respect, it will be best for the College to locate it. where it is -near- 
est to the greatest number of us. That place is Grand Rapids. Sup- 
pose we take any place in Iowa as the place of location. Then 
only the people that live in the classes of Iowa. Oostfriesland, 
and a small part of Ilinois, will be closer to the College than if it 
were located at Grand Rapids. Xow the statistics give 10,605 souls 
for the classes of Iowa and Oostfriesland. and for the other classes to- 
gether 47.907. The classis of Holland alone counts more souls than 
Iowa and Oostfriesland together. It is true the expansion of our 
Church in the West is rapid, but unless a wholesale migration from 
the Netherlands, or from the other classes to the West takes place, 
the numbers in the other classes, in the natural process of growth, will 



64 
for an indefinite period of time to come, remain much larger. Be- 
sides Grand Rapids is a much larger city than any city in Iowa, 
in which it would be feasible to locate the College. Grand Rap- 
ids is not so large that the disadvantages of a big city are at all 
seriously felt, whereas it has all the advantages. 

To me therefore it seems best for the College to be located in 
Grand Rapids, because it will then be nearest the greatest number 
of our people. Of course Grand Rapids itself should then show 
its appreciation by its contributions, but not only Grand Rapids, 
but all the people in the ' classes nearest to Grand Rapids. 
It will, however, not be easy for our people here, in spite 
of greater numbers, to compete with the people out West 
in the matter of contributions, because the latter as a rule, are 
more well-to-do. And not without reason sometimes complaints 
have been made about lack of appreciation in Grand Rapids. Now, 
I for one, would not sacrifice the interests of the College, simply 
out of spite. But the fact remains that Grand Rapids, the people 
in the classes round about it, and also in the two classes out East 
will have to reckon with the West. 

But wherever the College may finally be located, let us all 
work together. Let it be impressed deeply upon the minds of 
every one of us that we can not afford to have more than one Col- 
lege. Even if we unite all our strength, and contribute as liberally 
as we possibly can; no matter how strongly the spirit, revealed in 
David in I Chron. 29, may work in us, we shall not be able to do 
more than establish one College and that a small one. To pay the ex- 
penses for one year of a large University to-day requires the sum of 
one million dollars. I say this not to discourage. With an endow- 
ment of 100,000 we have a nice start. But I say it to show that we 
must not think that when we have an endowment of 100,000 we have 



3477-59 
Lot U 



65 
reached the goal. We should put our ideal not low, but high, as 
high as possible. And then with Dutch perseverance, American 
enterprise and energy, and Calvinistic faith let us begin at the bot- 
tom, lay the foundation solid, and build, build as much, as wide, 
as high as God will enable us to build. 

For let us remember we are building not so much for the pres- 
ent but for the future; we build not so much for ourselves but for 
the coming generations. If we now divide our strength, building 
a College in Michigan and one in Iowa, both will forever be stunted. 
Let us all understand it, this proposed College is not the hobby of 
a few, it is the most serious thing that has come up as yet in the 
history of our Church and people. Therefore in the face of our dif- 
ficult calling, and of the tremendous crisis in which Christendom 
finds itself to-day, let us not throw away our chance of beginning to 
build up a College that by united efforts and united prayer, under 
the blessing of God Almighty, in whose name stands our help, 
may grow into an institution of real power, an institution which 
may be of incalculable sendee to us in helping to ward of the 
dangers that beset us, in fulfilling our calling in our new country 
in Church, State, and Society to the glory of the triune God. 



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